Posts in category Fairfield News Articles

Published: Monday, April 08, 2013 By Meg Learson Grosso
Photo by Meg Learson Grosso Three students from Fairfield’s Roger Ludlowe Middle School talked about whether they liked or didn’t like the new method of teaching Algebra I in the eighth grade.
View and purchase photos
Three students taking 8th grade Alg [...]

By Meg Learson Grosso, June 6, 2013
In a victory for Fairfield parents, the Connecticut State Board of Education voted today to investigate the use of an Algebra I text book , before it had been voted on by the Fairfield Board of Education.
Attorney Laura Anastasio, who investigated the matter for Stefan Pryor, the state Commissioner of Educa [...]

Photo by Meg Learson Grosso From left, Board of Education members, Perry Liu, John Convertito and Jennifer Kennelly. By Meg Learson Grosso
View and purchase photos
Fairfield Board of Education member Perry Liu has said that Phil Dwyer’s opinion piece, which ran in this newspaper last week, was “grossly inappropriate, [...]

John Llewellyn and Eileen Liu-McCormack won the Republican primary for seats on the Board of Education. Contributed photo. Published: Wednesday, July 24, 2013
by Meg Learson Grosso
View and purchase photos
Republican incumbents Pamela Iacono and Robert B. Bellitto, Jr. lost bids for re-nomination when Republicans hel [...]

The Fairfield Board of Education reached a settlement with the parents who lodged a complaint with the state regarding the textbook piloted in Algebra I classes in the 2012-13
Members of Fairfield’s Board of Education. Credit: Patch File Photo.
300school year.
Posted by Caitlin Mazzola (Editor) , July 26, 2013 at 01:23 PM
[...]

Board of Education members, include Vice Chairwoman Pam Iacono and Chairman Philip Dwyer, met briefly in public session Wednesday — after closed-door discussions — to approve proposed settlement of a complaint filed against school officials over the use of a “pilot” Algebra text in the last school year. FAIRFIELD CITI [...]

Published: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 – Meg Learson Grosso
The discussion was sometimes heated as the Fairfield Board of Education talked about the state’s decision to investigate Fairfield’s use of a controversial Algebra I textbook without the approval of the board. According to state law, there must be such approval.
Board memb [...]

Any time members of a town board want to go behind closed doors to discuss the public’s business, the public should pay close attention.
And it’s time to pay close attention to the Fairfield Board of Education. (scroll down for comment section)
The board remains mired in a controversy involving the use this school year [...]

Does your child need tutoring? Give your child a free at-grade-level assessment.
By Laurie H. Rogers- November 5, 2012
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. … Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of thei [...]

Core Connections CPM Algebra 1 Textbook
On April 24th, the State’s investigation into the complaint that Fairfield changed its Algebra 1 textbook without Board of Education (BOE) approval concluded that the “Fairfield Board failed to vote on the change of textbook for Algebra I classes, as required by C.G.S. Section 10-229.”
On Jun [...]

Photo by Meg Learson Grosso At State Board of Education meeting in Hartford on June 5 is (from left) vice-Chairman Theresa Hopkins-Staten, Chairman Allan B. Taylor, and state Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor.
By Meg Learson Grosso / Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013
In a victory for Fairfield parents, the Connecticut State Board of E [...]

Who decided what when? Math text controversy rolls on
Andrew Brophy/ Updated 6:00 pm, Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Superintentdent of Schools David Title, in a 2012 photo, on Tuesday defended school administrators’ role in the “pilot” use of a math textebook that sparked months of contoversy and prompted parents to file a c [...]

PS 89: A Question of Philosophy
Tribeca Trib
January, 1998
Carl Glassman
Phoebe is not yet two, but her mother, Liz Berger, is already thinking about an elementary school for her. And she knows now that she would like to have a choice.
“How do I know that PS 234 is going to be the right school for her?” said Berger, a new m [...]

HARTFORD — The state Board of Education is being asked Wednesday to open an inquiry into the Fairfield Public School system’s full-year use of an Algebra 1 textbook without getting school board approval as state statutes require.
Even though the Fairfield board eventually scrapped the textbook that some parents deemed “fuzzy math,” the situa [...]

Linda Conner Lambeck
Updated 11:41 pm, Wednesday, June 5, 2013
HARTFORD — The state Board of Education has determined that there is sufficient cause to order a formal inquiry into charges that the Fairfield public school system violated state statutes by its full-year use of an Algebra 1 textbook without school board approval. [...]

Understanding the Answers to each of the remaining allegation in the complaint, as to why the District believes there were no technical violations:
“no change to the math textbook….textbook has not yet been finally adopted by the Board as it is part of a pilot program which has not yet been completed. Parents have yet to see the [...]

The Investigation of the Complaint was conducted under the direction of Commissioner Stefan Pryor. Fairfield parents are still waiting for a full report of the investigate from the Connecticut State Department of Education.
Download (PDF, 567KB)

Perhaps the most curious Common Core criticism comes on the math side, with opponents arguing that the standards are squishy, progressive, and lacking in rigorous content. While Common Core math standards do articulate ten math “practices,” mathematical content dominates the K–12 expectations. Unlike many of the replaced state standards, Comm [...]

As can be seen, our existing elementary curriculum, which has been under the same leadership, has significantly deteriorated our standing. Eight of the eleven schools dropped in state ranking over the 2007 to 2012 time period. The Fairfield, CT school ranking based on CMT 4th grade 2007-2012 does not support the socioeconomic theory; Mill Hil [...]

The Following Table is populated with the percentage of students receiving GOAL RANGE for FAIRFIELD and the STATE, as a whole. The elementary curriculum leaders have been stating that the new curriculum based on “FUZZY MATH” has been successful based on the CMT results. That being said, CMT math scores (2007-2012) show Fairfiel [...]

To the Editor:
Ever since it became public several months that the School Administration changed the math curriculum without consulting the Board of Education and without disclosing to parents, I, like many, have been silently fuming. I have no child in the public schools any longer, but when they were, I was involved deeply in town governmen [...]

Wakeman said each district has had success with its respective program — however he pointed out that in all three cases the program had to be supplemented in order for it to align properly with the district’s in-house curriculum.
Wakeman said although all four textbook programs have unique features and strengths, none are what might be [...]

Burr and Dwight Elementary School have been Flexible grouping for over 5 and 8 years respectively, so why isn’t it offered at other elementary schools?
Burr School was recognized for its “Exemplary Programming for Flexible Grouping in Mathematics” (see below).
Parents from other schools have requested the same instructional [...]

A Textbook Case in Textbook Adoption
Barry Garelick*
It was a textbook case on how to adopt substandard math textbooks. On June 15, 2005, the Washington, DC School Board voted to adopt Everyday Mathematics (EM) for elementary schools and Connected Math Program (CMP) for middle schools. The action was a photocopy of actions taken by other scho [...]

‘I hope the Fairfield’s Board of Education will instruct the Superintendent to stop using the unapproved Algebra 1 textbook when they meet at the Jan. 15 BOE meeting,’ the writer states.
Dear Editor:
I hope the Fairfield’s Board of Education will instruct the Superintendent to stop using the unapproved Algebra 1 textbook when the [...]

The faction is also concerned with the results of the 2011 Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) math scores, Marcus said. In Fairfield, 69.9 percent of high school students met the state goal for mathematics, ranking fourth in the school system’s district reference group (DRG) towns. That DRG include Greenwich (71.9 percent), Monroe ( [...]

Although funded almost entirely by taxes levied on or real property, our locally elected board of education in Fairfield is not an agent of the town but, in fact, creature of the state.
Chapter 170 of the state General Statutes establishes the laws creating the board of education. The specific duties of the board of education are outlined in [...]

Administrators over the summer very quietly — and apparently without proper approvals — changed the methods by which math is being taught in secondary schools and switched to a new textbook that students are not allowed to take home.
In addition to using a textbook that parents can’t consult, a new teaching method was adopte [...]

Students work in groups to solve word problems, and each student is assigned a role in the solution process, according to CPM’s principles.
The school board is scheduled to hear a presentation and vote on the secondary school mathematics curriculum in April.
But the district has already begun rolling out the CPM methodology and textbook [...]

Encourages parents to ‘preserve the process’ within the schools
Fairfield BOE website, “What Does a BOE Do?
In reaction to open board comment and ensuing questions to Dr. Title, Vice Chair Pam Iacono, floated her opinion that open board comment should be removed “as it allows the superintendent to be ambushed.”
The tension was palpable at Tue [...]

A New Kind of Problem: The Common Core Math Standards – by Barry Garelick from The Atlantic
Scroll down to comments: NOTE the Comment by Bill McCallum (one of the authors of the Common Core): William McCallum barrygarelick • 13 days ago
It seems strange to me to be basing a claim on a couple of sentences in a draft document about the [...]

Board to discuss parents’ concerns about new method for teaching math
-BOE meeting is scheduled for December 11th 7:30 p.m. in the Board of Education Central Office, 501 Kings Highway East.
-The Board of Education welcomes parents sharing information and their own perspectives on matters concerning their children.
-Parents are welcom [...]

Fairfield Board of Education member Jennifer Maxon Kennelly said she was “appalled,” about some of the things parents were telling the school board regarding the new way in which eighth grade math was being taught.
Sue Brand was first to speak after the parents finished and she asked that the matter be put on the December agenda. She had seve [...]

Elementary students in grades three through five will have a new math curriculum. In response, Anna Cutaia-Leonard said the school district would like to use a new math text, but now is not the right time because publishing companies are updating textbooks to Common Core Standards. She said the school district would then choose textbooks that [...]

If The Current Change in Math Curriculum Does Not Impact You This Year…Wait…It Will Next Year!
This year, the Fairfield School District has decided to purchase and utilize textbooks and a curriculum from an outside source, College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM). They are utilizing the State’s shift to the Common Core Curriculum Standards as a [...]

The new math curriculum is not receiving rave reviews. It has not been successful in California and is not being used elsewhere in Connecticut. So how and why was this curriculum chosen? What makes the administration think it will be successful in Fairfield? The new demands on our curriculum to meet the guidelines of common-core standards are [...]